The blue masterpiece has arrived. Nicknamed “the Tsarevich Egg,” one of the famous masterpieces by jeweler Carl Fabergé was unveiled to a handful of journalists on Wednesday at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). It is part of the summer exhibition Fabergé, Jeweller to the Czars (Fabergé: Jeweller to the Czars), which opens on June 14, 2014.
The precious object, 12.5 cm high, was placed on Wednesday in its temporary museum case under high security. It was not possible to move around on the open side of the glass cube where an expert art handler set it down. It must be said that one of the Fabergé eggs recently purchased by a British collector (from the hands of an American scrap dealer from the Midwest who had acquired it at a flea market!) was valued at $37 million…
“This is one of the most extraordinary objects in this collection,” explains Sylvain Cordier, Curator of Decorative and Ancient Arts at the MBAM. The collection belonging to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is considered the largest outside Russia and is being presented exclusively in Canada in Montreal.
“It is an egg that was presented by Tsar Nicholas II in 1912,” the curator continues. “It is made of lapis lazuli and features a very delicate Neo-Regency gold decoration, and it contains an extraordinary little surprise—namely a small portrait of Tsarevich Alexei, set into a small frame with imperial decoration featuring the double-headed eagle motif in diamonds.”
The tradition of Fabergé’s Imperial Easter eggs begins in 1885. Tsar Alexander III offered the first to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, who is said to have had a vivid memory of a small gold egg belonging to her aunt when she was a child. It is thanks to this first egg that Fabergé became goldsmith to the Romanovs’ Imperial Court.
In total, 50 Fabergé eggs were presented as gifts each year by Tsars Alexander II and Nicholas II, and two were not delivered to their recipients, as the Russian Revolution abruptly brought the imperial regime to an end in 1917. Each egg, designed in secrecy by the jeweller, contains a special surprise for the person to whom it is presented—especially the Empresses Maria and Alexandra Feodorovna.
The MBAM exhibition will offer visitors a view of four of these masterpieces. The blue piece is highlighted because it clearly illustrates the exhibition’s theme, which addresses, among other things, the history and the fall of the tsarist regime.
“It carries a strong emotional charge and a very rich stylistic decoration,” explains Mr. Cordier. The surprise portrait of the Tsarevich inside evokes both the intimacy of a mythical family and its tragic fate, since it would be murdered during the 1917 revolution.
“There is a confrontation between the private sphere and the institution,” the curator explains. “It conveys sumptuousness while showcasing a tiny portrait of a child condemned to die a few years later.”
© 2014 Le Devoir, Frédérique Doyon. Original article (source).
Photo: Annik MH De Carufel – Le Devoir